


Boil the Frog

by BabySpinach



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Characters, F/F, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Non-Canon Relationship, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character(s), slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:33:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29055957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabySpinach/pseuds/BabySpinach
Summary: In 1970, something amazing happened at Hogwarts. A record number of muggle-born, half-blood, and so-called "blood traitor" students were sorted into Slytherin. The next year, the same thing happened, and it kept happening. This trend was heralded as a sign of progress that things were changing for the better.Thia Walker is one of this group of New Slytherins and she knows better than anyone that progress takes work. For five years, she's schemed, blackmailed, cheated, and clawed her way to the top of her house. In her sixth year, she's determined to not let any Dark Wizards in Training keep her from making Head Girl or the Quidditch Cup. But when Sirius Black suddenly takes an interest in her, she finds that tensions in her house may be closer to boiling than she thought.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Queens of Noise

I pulled the mic towards me, trying not to think too hard about the stale beer and fish stench on the breath of the act before us. I turned to look at Poppy who took a deep breath, fingers resting on the keys in front of her. She smiled, showing a bit of her black lipstick smeared on her teeth. 

I nodded at her and turned back to the mic, my fingers slowly pressing down on the frets. No magic, no pure-blood eyes judging me, just me, and Poppy. And music. I took a breath, strummed the first chord, and started to sing.

There were very few times I really felt like myself. The first was when I helped my mother in her garden, the second is when I was flying using my broom (or my not-strictly-legal wings), and when I was playing.

The set ended with a fair amount of applause and some scattered cheers. I raised my hand and waved lazily, projecting an aura of cool I didn't feel. When it died down I knelt to put Her Majesty back in her case. 

When I looked up, the familiar faces of Ryder Tremblay and Lily Evans, mine and Poppy's best friends respectively. However, they were not alone.

"James! Sirius!" Poppy greeted the others brightly. “What the hell are you doing here?”

James Potter smiled broadly, looking singularly out of place in this punk club. Sirius Black fit in better with his torn drainpipe jeans and thrifted jacket covered in patches and buttons. 

“Happy to see you too, Walker,” Potter said with a smile. He glanced over at me, taking in my teased hair, cut up, homemade, graphic tee-shirt, and exaggerated makeup. “Happy to see both Walkers, actually. I can really see the twin thing with you made up like that.”

I grimaced and I started feeling sick. What if he told my housemates I spent my Summers working in low-class muggle bars for tips? They didn’t need more arrows in their quiver to use against me. 

Thankfully, Ryder came to my rescue. “Look, I found my inbred cousin and his pure-blood boyfriend slumming it with the rest of us.”

James laughed, but Sirius seemed to look away awkwardly at the mention of “boyfriend.” Interesting. He covered well, slapping Ryder on the back a bit harder than was necessary. “I may be inbred, but at least I’m not a pompous twat.”

“Anyway,” Lilly said cooly, looking over at her housemates. “You’re set was wonderful! Thank you for inviting me.”

I smiled at her, feeling my cheeks heat a bit. Was it embarrassing to have a crush on my biggest competition for Head Girl and natural rival? Yes. Did that stop me? Nope. 

Poppy slung an arm around her friend's neck. “Thank you for coming, Lilly. See, it’s fun out here! Maybe we can get Petunia to come next time. I’m sure a strong drink and a bit of grass would sort her out.”

“No,” Lilly said shortly. “No, it would not.”

Poppy slung her other arm around me, pulling me close, her bright purple hair tickling my cheek. “I guess not everyone can have a cool sister.”

“I heard you were really cool,” James said with a gleam in his eyes. “Isn’t that right? The other snakes call you Ice Queen Thia, right?”

“Potter!”

“James!” Lilly and Poppy snapped at him at the same time. 

I groaned internally. This was getting to be too much. There was always a clear separation between my mundane and magical lives. Hearing my school nickname in the comforting din and darkness of this club was throwing me off. 

I shook Poppy off, Ice Queen mask back up. “If you two are looking for a Slytherin to bully, move along. That nickname is usually the tamest that follows me around. I’m going for a smoke.”

I snapped the latches on my guitar case, picked up my now room temperature beer, and dipped through the back. I left Her Majesty with the bartender and walked out into the muggy July night.

The heat stuck to my skin, making the sweat from the stage even more obvious. I was dying for a shower and prayed that my perfume and deodorant held up. I set the beer on a nearby garbage can while indulging my worst habit.

The smoke coiled in my lungs, hurting in a good way and calming the discomfort in my mind. How dare those boys poke a hole in the carefully crafted wall I kept between my worlds. Only my best friends were privy to this side of me. At school, I had to be perfect and nice enough, but never kind enough to be taken advantage of. Clear-headed, unshakeable, and quiet. That was the way to survive and succeed.

The back door banged open, revealing Black pushing Potter back into the alley. I looked at them warily, but Black smiled at me. “Go on, James.”

James shook his head and sighed theatrically. “Forsythia Walker, I am so sorry for running your night with my boorish behavior. Please accept my apology. Also, your set was wicked groovy.”

I cocked my head at him, the cig burning down towards my fingers. I’d mainly avoided the infamous Gryffindor quartet. They had more of an anathema towards Slyterins than most people. I didn’t need their torment on top of everything else. He probably was only doing this because he was also sweet on Lilly and my sister would probably send him to the hospital wing with a stray bludger if he didn’t.

Still… I smiled cooly at him and nodded. “Apology accepted. Thank you for the compliment.”

He bobbed his head awkwardly. “Great, good. I think this is a historic moment in inter-house unity.”

“Something like that.” He turned to go, but I called out. “Potter?”

“What?”

“If you tell anyone at school about this whole thing, I’ll tell Ryder about that thing I caught you doing last year. And he will publish it in that rag of his.”

Potter turned back, face pale. He ran a hand through his dark hair that was the only part of him that fit in in this place and grinned. “Well played, Your Majesty.”

I raised my chin in approval as he went back through the door. Sirius’s eyes followed him back inside, like a force of habit, but he didn’t follow. As he turned, I saw a blue handkerchief hanging out of his back pocket. Suddenly, something clicked in my brain. I was good at drawing connections, reading people. It kept me functioning in the twisted game that was Slytherin politics. 

“So, how long have you been in love with Potter?”

Black’s face went slack. “Excuse me?”

I shrugged and took another drag, blowing the smoke away from him. “Relax, I swing both ways too.” I motioned to the handkerchief. “I don’t know what muggle told you to do that, but get rid of it. We’re sixteen!”

He pulled it out and looked down at it sheepishly, an expression I’d never imagined him capable of. “I heard it from a boy in another club. James has been taking me out. He’s supportive. Now that I’m out from under the thumb of my parents, he wants me to try snogging some dudes.”

“Sounds like a good friend, must be torture.”

“Oh, you have no idea.”

I thought about Lily. We’d met in our first year. That time was turmoil and chaos and she’d been there, determined to be nice to me because her friend Snape was a Slytherin too. In our third year, we’d been huddled over a cauldron in Slughorn’s class. I’d looked up into her green eyes and realized I was queer as a muggle-born Slytherin.

“I feel like some yearning for a tragically straight friend is just part of the experience.” 

He smiled down at me, and it was down, I came up to his shoulder. He was handsome up close and the summer had been clearly treating him well. His long black hair hung about his shoulders framing his jawline which seemed to be emerging from his former boyish good looks. He had a bit of a heavy brow and roman nose, not unlike his kid brother, but it worked with the “bad boy” look he was aiming for. 

“You’re way cooler than I thought you were.”

“You thought anything about me?” I was genuinely surprised, but I tried to play it cool. “On second thought, I don’t really want to know how many snake related insults you’ve come up with.”

He laughed, a warm, easy laugh. “Well, your sister’s metal as hell and Regulus never shut the fuck up about you.”

It was my turn to laugh. “I hope Gus wasn’t dumb enough to tell your parents about me.”

Something dark flashed across Black’s handsome features but it passed immediately. “ _ Gus? _ ”

“Sorry, I probably wasn’t supposed to tell you that. But that’s flattering to know. He’s a good kid somewhere in there. Gifted seeker, Potter better watch out this year.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Black said, lowering his voice. “Though your new Captain scares the piss out of him.”

“As she should! Not to trade house secrets, but the team we’ve built this year aren’t total pricks and don’t hate each other. Meilin’s been trying something new called teambuilding and respect.” 

Black clutched his heart dramatically. “I'm actually scared now. This is a historic first for the snakes, I think.”

“It’s been a real slog. You don’t have to live in a house surrounded by self-interested control-freaks. All of you kittens seem to be able to pack bond with anything with a pulse. Except for Slytherins of course.”

“Hey, if more of them were like you and less of them were like my parents, maybe we would try harder.” There was a pause and he leaned back into the wall so he wasn’t facing me. “But hey, I’m glad Regulus has someone not totally shitty looking out for him. I-” He paused. “I can’t pull him out of that family 'till he lets go.”

There was an awkward silence as I repositioned, realizing he’d just shared something extremely private and vulnerable with me, a stranger. I held out a cigarette. “Want one?”

He nodded and took it from me and pulled a lighter of his own out. He smiled at my raised eyebrows. “I got a pack of these things to piss off my parents.”

“Understandable.”

We smoked in silence for a moment longer. “Can I ask you something?”

I looked over at him, shields flying up. I didn’t really understand it, but my gut told me to trust him. I was always on guard, my situation was too precarious to just give away answers. But he looked, a bit sad and far more subdued than I’d ever seen him. “Sure.”

“What happened when you were sorted?

“That’s really personal,” I snapped, reacting immediately. Everyone wanted to know. Muggle-born Slytherins were becoming more common, but it fascinated everyone not on the inside. 

“You’re right, sorry.” He shrugged and looked down.

There was a beat while I considered him, considering every angle I could about why he wanted to know, but coming up short. Still, it felt weird to be here, in my muggle world persona talking with Black, someone in the exact opposite position as me. 

“I did as much research as I could before going to Hogwarts. Poppy told me to just be myself, but I just knew I would feel like an imposter in those robes. I needed at least a chance to compete with those of you raised in this and I knew I couldn’t do that unless I knew how to navigate. It was a very Slytherin thing to do.” A group of drunk university students stumbled past the entrance to the alley, interrupting me.

“The hat told me that but fretted over my blood-status. There was a pause, then he asked me if I wanted to try and change things. He told me I was one of the rare people who could do it. I accepted and the rest is history.”

I left out a lot of name-calling, hazing, and escalating dorm room warfare. I’d never told anyone except for Poppy about the hat’s challenge and by extension, how badly I’d failed it. 

He was quiet for a moment, the ash trailing from the end of his cigarette. “It told me the same thing. That I had a choice, I could try and work against the things I hated from the inside or the outside.”

“No pressure on eleven-year-olds, right?” I said trying to lighten the mood a little.

He laughed. “None at all. Thanks for telling me, your whole thing makes a little more sense. You really aren’t like other Slytherins.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh save that bullshite for someone else. You just caught me in the right place. Once we're back to school the Ice Queen will return.”

He made a low humming sound in the back of his throat and looked at me. I suddenly was aware of the soft way he was looking at me and how close he was. I didn’t like how it made my chest ache to be looked at that way. “Well, then I’m excited to talk to her too.”

I opened my mouth to tell him to fuck off, but the door opened once more and Ryder leaned out. “Thia, Black, let’s go get food. I’m starving.”

I suddenly realized I was also starving. “Hell yeah.” I turned back to Black. “You want the best Gyro in town?”

He bowed dramatically. “Lead the way, Your Highness.”

I turned to hide the heat rushing to my face and re-entered the club to find Ryder, Poppy, James, and Lilly waiting for us. We made a weird bunch, but for tonight, houses and families didn’t matter. We were all just out for a good time.


	2. Mama Weer All Crazee Now

We were nice and early to platform 9 ¾ as usual. Mrs. Tremblay made sure her muggle husband, the Evans parents, and my mother all knew where and when to go. We’d had a nice brunch and then headed into Kings Cross.

Mrs. Tremblay fretted over Ryder who was trying to wriggle out of her grasp. She turned to me with a look of exasperation. “Thia, sweetie, would you please make sure he doesn’t sleep in his binder.”

“Mum,” Ryder groaned.

His father laid a hand on her shoulder. “Emory, Thia isn’t around him all the time. Ryder’s a big boy, it’s okay.”

I smiled up at his parents. “It’s okay, I’ll deduct points if he does.”

Ryder narrowed his eyes. “They give you a prefect badge and you go full fascist.” 

“Oh wait till I’m Head Girl.”

Ryder made to flip me off, but his dad swatted his hand gently. “Ryder! Please wait till I’m out of sight. I’d like to at least pretend you’re my well-mannered son while you’re away.”

The three of them laughed and I smiled. Ryder’s parents were both scattered academics, but their love of their son and willingness to help my mother out while Poppy and I were at school, made them two of my favorite people. 

“Forsythia! Come help!” My mom’s sharp accent cut through the din.

I hurried over to where she and Poppy were trying to manage our Quidditch gear. The bludger my sister borrowed for practice was trying to fight its way out of its box. I sat down on it as mum tightened the straps we’d used to secure it.

She sighed and wiped her brow. She was tan and muscled from years of groundskeeping and gardening. Her hair was the same shade of honey blonde that Poppy’s was before she started dying it and their eyes a startling grey. I’d always thought the combination was beautiful. I’d inherited straw brown hair my mother lovingly called “mushroom,” but was really just brown, and the bland brown eyes of my absent father. 

Poppy was sorting out our equipment and uniforms into two bags. I kneeled next to her. “Those are my armguards!”

“No, they’re mine, I bought them last year.” She tried to stuff them into her bag but I grabbed them and pulled.

“Why didn’t you do this before we got here! I did our books and robes and you did the equipment.”

“I got busy!”

“With what? Saying goodbye to Danny from down the lane?”

Poppy flushed, her cheeks almost matching her purple-red hair. “Thia! In front of Mum?”

Mum closed her eyes and blew out a quick breath. “I don’t want to know. I told you two to be responsible but that I didn’t want to know.”

I smiled up at her pleasantly. “Don’t worry mum, I made sure to evenly divide up that huge bag of condoms you gave us.”

Mom and Poppy both looked at me with exasperation, I smiled wider. Poppy released the arm guards. “You know what, you can have them, just never bring up the condoms again.”

“Sounds good to me.” I triumphantly shoved the guards into my bag. 

We spent a few minutes bickering and finishing the sorting before boarding. Poppy and Lily went to scout a compartment for their friends while Ryder and I did the same. When we’d settled, we reconvened on the platform.

Mum hugged me for a long time. I hugged her back. I knew my classmates were watching, but I didn’t care. There were only so many things you could give up for reputation and I would never give up my mother. Someone started a rumor that my father was secretly a powerful pure-blood wizard. He wasn’t, he was a muggle with a drinking problem and a foul temper, but I didn’t contradict it. It helped my housemates look past my closeness with my mother.

“Be careful, Thia,” my mother whispered in my ear. 

I pulled back. “Shouldn’t you be telling Poppy that? I’m always careful.”

She nodded and frowned. “I know. You know you’re not as impulsive, but you aren’t grown yet. She tapped my chest. Don’t let that heart of yours get broken and don’t let the bastards get you down. Sometimes reputation isn’t everything.”

A lump formed in my throat. She didn’t get the Slytherin thing or how hard I had to work to be respected. I didn’t tell her about it. Mainly, I was afraid she wouldn’t like who I was at school. I nodded. “I know, Mum. I’ll be careful.”

She let go of me, tears forming in her eyes. She always got like this, no matter that we’d been doing this for six years. “Write soon, Forsythia. I’ll miss your help in the garden.”

I smiled and leaned close to her ear. “Be sure to take pictures when the flutterby bush blooms.”

She winked at me and nodded. I definitely was breaking the law by handing magical plants to a muggle, but it made her so happy, I couldn’t refuse. I gave her one last smile and retreated to the train, feeling a slight pang of homesickness. 

An hour and a half later, we were speeding through the countryside. My other best friends, Meilin and Nolan had joined us just before departure. Nolan ran in last minute after settling his hoard of younger sisters. Meilin burst in after almost physically fighting with the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain on the platform.

I sat with my feet draped over Nolan’s Lap as he knitted. Ryder and Meilin sat across from us, already catching up on the latest gossip. 

“Oh, I forgot to mention this in my letter but Thia and I ran into the elder Black and Potter while we were out at a muggle club,” Ryder said triumphantly. I glared at him, he didn’t forget, he was sitting on the piece of information for the drama.

Meilin threw her hands up and let out a shriek. “What? Really? I miss everything over the summer! That’s it, next summer I’m digging in my heels. They can’t make me go to Hong Kong if I’m of age!”

Ryder smiled like the cat that ate the canary. “Yep! Thia and Black spent a while all alone in a back alley too.”

“Thia!” Meilin tried to flatten her smile into a line of concern and failed. “You have a problem and it’s called ‘lusting after any Gryffindor who so much as looks at you.’”

I threw a cauldron cake at her. She caught it, keeper dexterity. “It wasn’t like that. I told you it wasn’t like that, Ryder.”

“He was making puppy dog eyes at you all night afterward. I think he’s in love!” 

Nolan sighed and lowered his knitting. “Ryder, leave Thia alone. If she says it wasn’t anything, it wasn’t.”

“You weren’t there,” Ryder said, smugly. “I really can’t think of another person that would piss off his family more to date. Also, can you imagine how legendary his reputation would be if he melted our lovely Slytherin Ice Queen?”

I laughed sharply and bitterly. “Actually, I think you’re right. That and he’s likely to drop trowel for any bird who is nice to him.”

“Mummy dearest didn’t love him enough,” Ryder added.

We both laughed. Nolan groaned. “You two are terrible and mean.”

I smiled at our sweet Hufflepuff friend. “That’s why you love us, my dear.”

He rolled his eyes. “I know it’s hard, but he’s had a hard time.”

“Since when do you know about Sirius Black?” Meilin leaned towards him. “Did you spend secret alley time with him too?”

“No, but his parents used to shop at the store. They’re two of the worst people I’ve ever met. They made my dad cry once!” Nolan said with a shiver.

Meilin nodded. “Yeah, that would explain Gus. When I give him any corrections on the pitch he looks like he’s about to cry. Stinks of horrible parents for sure.”

I remembered what Sirius said in the alley about his brother. Thinking back to the alley it was hard not to feel a little bad about gossiping about him. At that moment, he’d seemed so… normal? 

I nodded gravely. “I think that’s a mission for this year then. Let’s all be really nice to Gus and keep him away from the DWITs running around our house.”

“Good idea,” Nolan said smiling. “You and Meilin give me hope. I really think Boots is going Slytherin.”

Ah, that’s why he was so quiet. His youngest sister, Elanora, was entering her first year. I’d been thinking the same thing. Boots was a little pill on a good day. She was smarter than everyone and a very good liar. 

“You hoping for a full set?” Ryder asked.

“So much for hand-me-downs,” Nolan sighed. “But, I guess it gives us each a chance to make our own friends and not live in the other's shadows.”

I reached over and squeezed his shoulder. He’d been distressed when his other sisters were sorted into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively. “If she does, I’ll take good care of her.”

“Thanks, Thia.” 

My pocket watch chirped. Poppy enchanted it for me for our birthday last year. It knew all my important meetings and reminded me as gently as possible. I sat up straight. “Prefects meeting!”

“Fascist,” Ryder muttered. 

I started pulling my school clothes out. “You say that a lot for someone who runs an un-sanctioned school publication. I could bust you whenever I want, but I don’t.”

Ryder smirked as I began to strip. “Oh, don’t try and blackmail me, snake. I’ve got so much on you. Mutually assured destruction.”

“Are you two even friends?” Nolan asked. 

Meilin laughed. “You really choose to hang out with the-- Hold on, Thia!”

I paused, halfway through buttoning my shirt. “What?”

“You got tattoos?”

“Oh, yeah. Poppy and I’ve been waiting for years.”

I dropped my shirt and turned around again to show off the wings splayed across my shoulder blades, a clever reference to my animagus form. Not even my closest friends knew about that. That was a secret for Poppy and me.

“They look really good,” Nolan said, sounding impressed. 

I resumed dressing and finished with ten minutes to spare. Ryder helpfully held up a mirror for me. I’d chosen a pencil skirt, light button-down, and loafers. The pencil skirt was about as short as I thought I could get away with, showing off my legs. I was very plain, I knew it, but my legs were well muscled from all the laps Lucinda Talkalot made us run during practice the last two years. 

I smoothed my short brown hair straight and adjusted my glasses. I smoothed my expression into the carefully curated look of cool aloofness that was my battle armor at Hogwarts. The prefects were split along faction lines. My male counterpart, Gust Avery, was absolutely a Dark Wizard in Training who made it his mission to make me lose my badge. He hadn’t succeeded last year, and he wouldn’t this year either. 

I bid my friends goodbye and headed up the train. Just before I reached the open car, someone coming the other way stopped and leaned against the wall, blocking my path. I readied myself for my first altercation of the year before I realized it was Sirius Black. 

He offered me a slow wave. I looked over my shoulder, but there was no one else he could have been waving at. I glanced at my watch, I still had time, but not much. I kept my face neutral as I approached him. He was wearing the same jacket from that night.

He smiled at my confusion. “I’ve been looking for you, Walker.”

“Really? Why?” I didn’t mean to sound so sharp, but I couldn’t help the fear that shot through me. I didn’t want to draw the attention of Black and his friends. They didn’t have pleasant interactions with Slytherins. 

“What? I can’t request an audience with Your Majesty?” 

I leaned opposite him, arms folded. “Won’t being seen with me ruin your gold star Gryffindor reputation?”

He rolled his eyes. “You know I don’t have anything against inter-house… fraternization.”

The suggestion in the last word hit me right in the teenage hormones. Not that I’d let him see that. “Okay, but you’ve got some personal baggage with us snakes. People are going to talk.”

“Well, they can talk then.”

I knew I was flushing, but I was determined to not acknowledge it. Alarms were ringing in my head so loud I couldn’t think. This happened from time to time. Someone stupid boy would come and try to test his metal against the Ice Queen. Then he’d run back to his friends and laugh. I wouldn’t be surprised if Potter, Lupin, and Pettigrew were lying in wait somewhere. 

“Listen, I’ve got the prefect’s meeting. If you’ve gotten tired of torturing Severus and decided to move on to me, I wouldn’t recommend it.” I pushed off the wall and moved around him. In the close quarters, I could smell the sharp, rich tones of his aftershave. “Neither of us need that headache this year.”

I made it past him and began my journey to the central car again. Or at least I tried to. Black’s hand stopped me, landing heavily on my shoulder. “Thia, wait.”

My hand twitched for my wand but I curled it into a fist instead. I looked at him sharply. “What the hell do you want?”

He removed his hand from my shoulder and ran it through his long, dark hair. His smile was gone now and he somehow couldn’t look me in the eye. Was he nervous? When he spoke, his voice was so quiet I had to lean in to hear him. 

“Listen, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since that night. I couldn’t believe that was you up there on that stage and after... I felt like you really got me.” He met my eye again and smiled that stupidly handsome lopsided smile of his. “I’d like to see more of you, maybe on a date somewhere? You’re so different from every other girl in this place.”

I let out a heavy sigh. Who did he think I was? I leaned in further and glared up at him. “Not interested. I don’t if you’re doing this because you want to piss off your parents or if you want to be seen as edgy for walking out with a Slytherin, but I don’t have time for it. Also, don’t ever give anyone that ‘not like other girls’ shite ever again. It’s pathetic. You don’t even know me so don’t tell me how I am.” 

There was a moment where his eyes widened and his jaw set. I let the ends of my mouth turn up at the edges. “Run back to your mates and tell them what a cunt the Ice Queen was. I really don’t mind.”

He opened his mouth to retort, dark brows knitting together in anger or confusion. 

“Thia?”

I turned to see the younger Black brother further down the hall, having just emerged from a compartment. He and Sirius were almost as identical as Poppy and I. Regulus kept his dark hair cropped short around the ears and was slightly shorter with a rounder face. He was in his robes, with his shiny new Prefect badge attached.

His eyes jumped up to his brother. There was a moment of heavy, intense eye contact between them in which I wanted to throw myself out of the window and into a nearby field. 

Sirius spoke first in a tone so smarmy it made my skin crawl. “On a first name basis with Walker, I see. Glad you have a friend other than mum and Creature.”

Regulus looked away, his pale face flushed. Then he looked back, a bit more determined. “You wouldn’t know. Are you harassing my friends now or is Thia just your latest target? She doesn’t need another bully, Sirius, leave her alone.”

I pursed my lips at that. I appreciated the concern, but did he really have to phrase it that way? I smiled at Regulus and walked towards him. “He wasn’t bullying me, Gus. He just had a question about the herbology summer reading. Want to head to the meeting together?”

There was a moment where I could feel Sirius’s eyes boring into the back of my head and Regulus looked at me like he didn’t quite buy my story. Then, Regulus nodded. “Yeah, let’s go, we’ll be late.”

I resisted the urge to give Sirius a parting look. Later, I’d probably curl up and cry quietly about what just happened, but it was time to shove it down deep and muscle my way through the long first night back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've put a lot of OCs in this story! It's really fun to write!

**Author's Note:**

> Have some cool queer wizards in the 70s. Also, I'm trying to add some theme and depth to Slytherin because I can! Stay safe and healthy out there babes!


End file.
